Users can be reached over many different devices that each has a variety of capabilities. For example, a user can receive an instant message or voice call on a cell phone, a video phone call or an instant message on a computer, or a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call on a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-enabled phone. The combinations of devices and capabilities make up the different ways of reaching a user, called modes of communication. For example, the receiving of an instant message on a cell phone is one mode of communication, the receiving of an instant message at a desktop computer is another mode of communication, and the receiving of an electronic mail message at the desktop computer is yet another mode of communication.
When attempting to communicate with a user, it is difficult to know which mode of communication will have the best chance of reaching the user, as well as the mode of communication over which the user would prefer to be reached. For example, if the user is in a meeting, the user may be reachable only via a voice call on an active (i.e., online) cell phone or an instant message on an active laptop. So communicating via either mode of communication may have the same chance of reaching the user, but placing a voice call to the user's inactive Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) may have no chance of reaching the recipient. Given the two reachable modes of communication, the user may prefer to be reached by instant message rather than by voice call because it is less disturbing. Similarly, if a user is at a loud concert with only a cell phone, the user might prefer a text message on the cell phone rather than a voice call, even though the user is reachable by both.
Current systems display the capabilities for reaching a user, but do not indicate which capabilities currently active devices provide. A sending user trying to reach a recipient may choose a capability and attempt to send a communication that may fail to reach the recipient because the user is not at the device or the device is not active. If the communication fails, then the sending user can cycle through each capability until the recipient responds to a communication. After sending each communication, the sending user may wait a while to see if the recipient responds. Such sending of multiple communications and waiting can be time-consuming and may be so frustrating that the sending user gives up trying to reach the recipient. Moreover, the recipient may become annoyed as the same communication may be received via several different modes of communication.